This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Alsace38 (talk | contribs) at 14:05, 28 June 2013 (undo blog's citation, not reliable!). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 14:05, 28 June 2013 by Alsace38 (talk | contribs) (undo blog's citation, not reliable!)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)| Kurdish Hezbollah, (KH) | |
|---|---|
| Leader | Hüseyin Velioğlu † İsa Altsoy |
| Dates of operation | 1983 – present |
| Active regions | Cross section of (southeastern Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria) |
| Ideology | Sunni islamism, Anti-communism |
| Status | Designated as Terrorist Organization by the Republic of Turkey |
Hizbullah (Template:Lang-en), often referred to as the Turkish Hezbollah (Turkish Hizbullah) or Kurdish Hezbollah (KH) (Kurdish: Hizbullahî Kurdî), to avoid confusion with the unrelated Lebanese Shi'a group called Hezbollah, is a Kurdish-based Sunni Islamist militant organization, active against the Government of Turkey. Although its members theoretically remain committed to violence, the organization has focused on non-violent activities during the last 10 years.
History
The organization of Turkish/Kurdish Hezbollah started in 1979/1980 with meetings in the bookshop Vahdet in Diyarbakır. The shop was owned by Abdulvahap Ekinci. The meetings were attended by Fidan Güngör and Hüseyin Velioğlu. In 1981 Fidan Gündör founded the bookshop Menzil and Hüseyin Velioğlu founded the bookshop İlim in 1982. Until 1987 the groups gathered around these bookshops worked together.
Further groups within Kurdish Hezbollah were named as Tevhid, led by Nurettin Şirin and Mehmet Şahin and Yeryüzü, led by Burhan Kavuncu.
Activities
In the early 1990s the organization became a direct threat to the already rising Kurdish separatist movement. The Kurdish Islamist group (of Sunni thought) began as an oppositional force against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), though later they have targeted both the PKK and people who they considered to be with low morals (people who drank alcohol, wore mini-skirts etc.). Some of Hezbollah's major attacks allegedly include bombings of two synagogues in Istanbul on November 17, 2003, killing 23 and wounding over 300.
Conflict between Menzil and İlim
In 1987, when Hüseyin Velioğlu moved his bookshop to Batman, different opinions on leadership and armed actions resulted in the split of the two wings. The so called İlim-wing, under the leadership of Hüseyin Velioğlu insisted to start the armed struggle immediately. The dispute resulted in bloody fighting among both factions.
Besides the town of Batman Hezbollah was strongest in Silvan district of Diyarbakır province. For a long time the village Yolaç was used as their base.
Official support
Former Minister Fikri Sağlar said in an interview with the paper Siyah-Beyaz (Black-White) that the army not only used Hezbollah, but actually founded and sponsored the organization. He maintained that such a decision had been taken in 1985.
However, Turkish security officials stated that the Turkish Hezbollah was financed by and trained in post revolutionary Iran. Believing that Iran was using terror groups to establish Islamic governments throughout the Middle East.
The weekly "2000'e Doğru" of 16 February 1992 reported that eye witnesses and sympathizers of Hezbollah had informed them that members of the organization were educated in the headquarter of the rapid deployment force (Çevik Kuvvet) in Diyarbakır. Two days after the article was published its author, Halit Güngen was killed by unidentified murderers. Namik Taranci, the Diyarbakir representative of the weekly journal Gerçek (Reality), was shot dead on November 20, 1992 on his way to work in Diyarbakır. Again, the previous edition of the magazine had examined relations between the state and Hizbullah. Hafiz Akdemir, reporter for Özgür Gündem (Free Agenda), was shot dead in a Diyarbakır street on June 8, 1992, after reporting that a man who had given refuge to assassins fleeing a Hezbollah-style double killing in Silvan was released after only six weeks in custody, without even appearing in court.
The 1993 report of Turkey's Parliamentary Investigation Commission referred to information that Hezbollah had a camp in the Batman region where they received political and military training and assistance from the security forces.
On 17 January 2011 Arif Doğan, a retired colonel in the Turkish army who also claims to be a founder of JİTEM, while testifying in court in the Ergenekon case, declared that he set up Hezbollah as a contra group to force to fight and kill militants of the PKK. The organization was originally to be called Hizbul-Kontr ("Party of the Contras").
Human resources
Corry Görgü puts the number of militants as high as 20,000 a figure presented by the Center for Defense Information as well. Information provided by the Intelligence Resource Program of the Federation of American Scientists based on the 2002 Patterns of Global Terrorism report suggests that the organisation possibly has a few hundred members and several thousand supporters. Ufuk Hiçyılmaz stated that the group had about 1,000 armed members.
Prosecution
After the kidnapping of several businessmen in Istanbul and the subsequent raid of a house in Beykoz quarter a nationwide hunt on Hezbollah supporters followed. During the operation in Beykoz on 17 January 2000 Hüseyin Velioğlu was killed and Edip Gümüş and Cemal Tutar were detained. Edip Gümüş, born 1958 in Batman was alleged to lead the military wing of Hezbollah and Cemal Tutar was said to be a member of the armed wing.
In the time to follow many trials were conducted in Diyarbakır and other places against alleged members of Hezbollah. In several instances defendants raised torture allegations. Such allegations are documented in Urgent Actions (UA) of Amnesty International. In the trial in which Edip Gümüş and Cemal Tutar were indicted the defendant Fahrettin Özdemir said on 10 July 2000 that he had been held in custody for 59 days and had been tortured. In the hearing of 11 September 2000 Cemal Tutar said that he had been held in police custody for 180 days.
The Hezbollah trial was concluded in December 2009. The defendants received varying terms of imprisonment.
Release of suspects
Eighteen members of Turkish Hezbollah, suspected of militant activities, were released from jail on 4 January 2011, in accordance with a recent amendment to the Turkish criminal code that set a limit of 10 years on the time detainees can be held without being sentenced in a final verdict.
Movement of the Oppressed and Hüda-Par
Following the decision to end armed struggle in 2002, sympathizers of Hizbollah's Menzil group founded an association called "Solidarity with the Oppressed" (tr: Mustazaflar ile Dayanışma Derneği or short Mustazaf Der) in 2003. It also became known as the Movement of the Oppressed (Turkish: Mustazaflar Hareketi, Kurdish: Hereketa Mistezefan). On 18 April 2010 Mustazaf Der organized a mass meeting in Diyarbakir to celebrate the anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday (known as Mawlid). The Turkish police estimated that the event was attended by 120,000 people. The organizers put the figure at over 300,000.
On 20 April 2010 a court in Diyarbakir ordered the closure of the Association for the Oppressed (Mustazaf-Der) on the grounds that it was “conducting activities on behalf of the terrorist organization Hizbollah.” The decision was confirmed by the Court of Cassation on 11 May 2012.
In late 2012, the Movement of the Oppressed announced its will to found a political party, basically to challenge the hegemony of the Peace and Democracy Party. In December 2012, a political party with the name Free Cause Party (Hür Dava Partisi) was founded. Hüda-Par, the abbreviated form of the party's name is synonymous with Hizbollah, both interpreted as the "God's Party", emphasising that the party is a front for the otherwise illegal Hizbollah. Societies affiliated with Hüda-Par operate under the umbrella organisation Lovers of Prophet (Turkish: Peygamber Sevdalıları, Kurdish: Evindarên Pêyxamber) particularly active in Kurdish Mawlid meetings.
See also
- Konca Kuris, Turkish feminist, one of Hizbollah's victims
- Islamic terrorism
- Great Eastern Islamic Raiders' Front
- List of designated terrorist organizations
- List of illegal political parties in Turkey
References
- [http://www.turkishweekly.net/article/180/turkish-hezbollah-hizbullah-kurdish-hezbollah.html Turkish Hezbollah (Hizbullah), turkishweekly.net
- ^ The Kurdish Ḥizbullāh in Turkey. Oxford Islamic Studies Online.
- Growing Influence of the Hezbollah. Qantara.de (2006-12-29). Retrieved on 2011-02-09.
- Türkiye'de Halen Faalıyetlerıne Devam Eden Başlica Terör Örgütlerı (in Turkish). Emniyet Genel Müdürlüğü.
- Murder on the Bosporus :: Middle East Quarterly, June 2000, pp. 15–22, Meforum.org. Retrieved on 2011-02-09.
- The real challenge to secular Turkey, The Economist, 31 Aug 2006
- Middle East Quarterly (Murder on the Bosporus)
- Turkish Hezbollah (Hizbullah) / Kurdish Hezbollah, Turkish Weekly
- N – Appendix C: Background Information on Other Terrorist Groups. Web.archive.org. Retrieved on 2011-02-09.
- Gareth Jenkins Tales from the crypt, Al-Ahram Weekly, 3–9 February 2000, Issue No. 467
- ^ Corry Görgü: "Die Anschläge auf die Synagogen in Istanbul und die Rolle von Staat und Hizbullah" Attack on the synagogues in Istanbul and the Role of the State and Hebollah
- A New Front in the PKK Insurgency / ISN. Isn.ethz.ch (2010-06-15). Retrieved on 2011-02-09.
- Turkish sympathy for militants grows Common Dreams News Center
- Report of a parliamentary commission; cited in the daily Cumhuriyet of 2 February 2000.
- Radikal-online / Türkiye / TÜRKİYE'DEKİ İSLAMCI KURULUŞ VE ÖRGÜTLER. Radikal.com.tr. Retrieved on 2011-02-09.
- The daily Milliyet reporting on the verdict in a trial against Hezbollah; (Turkish); dated 23 March 2007. Retrieved 21 October 2009.
- Terrorized Turkey by Evan Kohlmann
- ^ Mehmet Faraç in Cumhuriyet of 19 January 2000
- ^ Human Rights Watch: What is Turkey's Hizbullah?
- Cited in the Human Rights Watch report relying on the book of Faik Bulut and Mehmet Farac: Kod Adı: Hizbullah (Code ame: Hizbullah), Ozan Publishing House, March 1999.
- The Turkish Counter-Terrorism Experience, Suleyman Ozeren, Organizational and Psychological Aspects of Terrorism, Ed. Centre of Excellence Defence against Terrorism, (IOS Press, 2008), 159.
- Turkish Hezbollah, Encyclopedia of Terrorism, Ed. Harry W. Kushner, (Sage Publications Inc., 1993), 368-369.
- The Kurdish Question and Turkish Foreign Policy, Kemal Kirisci, The future of Turkish foreign policy, Ed. Lenore G. Martin, Dimitris Keridis, (MIT Press, 2004), 295.
- Akkoç v. Turkey, Application Nos. 22947/93, 22948/93, Judgement of 10 October 2000, European Court of Human Rights judgment concerning Akkoç v. Turkey case, section II, C Template:En icon
- Benjamin Harvey (18 January 2011). "Turkey Officer Says He Created Local Hezbollah Group, Star Says". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
- In the Spotlight: Turkish Hezbollah, the article was written in December 2003. Retrieved 23 October 2009.
- Cite error: The named reference
fas-hizwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - Maskeli Hizbullah'ın hedefi cemaatler; Turkish article published in the journal Aksiyon on 31 January 2005. Retrieved 23 October 2009.
- ^ An online edition of the Annual Report 2000 of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey is available on the website of the Democratic Turkey Forum
- See: EXTRA 64/01 of 14 September 2001 (Hacı Bayancık), UA 218/01 of 4 September 2001 (Hacı Elhunisuni), UA 209/01 of 22 August 2001 (Yasın Karadağ), UA 194/10 of 31 July 2001 (Edip Balık), UA 317/00 of 17 October 2000 (Fesih und Hatice Güler)
- Hizbullah'a 10 yıl sonra 16 müebbet / Türkiye / Radikal İnternet. Radikal.com.tr (2009-12-31). Retrieved on 2011-02-09.
- Sebnem Arsu (4 January 2011). "After a Court Ruling, Turkey Frees 23 Suspected Militants". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
- Compare an article in the daily Radikal of 13 April 2013: Hizbullah: Tebliğ, Cemaat, Cihat; accessed on 15 April 2013
- ^ See an article of the International Relation and Security Network in Zurich of 15 June 2010 written by Gareth Jenkins A New Front in the PKK Insurgency, accessed on 15 April 2013
- See an article of the portal timeturk.com Mustazaf-Der resmen kapatıldı! dated 11 May 2012; accessed on 15 April 2013
- Hüda-Par'ın rakibi BDP mi, AK Parti'mi?. Timeturk.com (2012-12-06). Retrieved on 2013-02-09.
- Hür Dava Partisi (Hüda-Par) Resmen Kuruldu. Haberdiyarbakir.com (2012-12-17). Retrieved on 2013-02-09.
- Peygamber Sevdalıları. Retrieved on 2013-02-09.
External links
- Levitsky, Olga, "In the Spotlight: Turkish Hezbollah". Terrorism. Center for Defense Information. December 10, 2003.
- Turkish Hezbollah: Release of Turkish Hezbollah Members Rocks Turkey
